Leaderboard

Just began playing Black Geyser: Courier of Darkness. Definitely very old-school, which I like very much. Poor graphics and character models are obviously a weak point of the game, which may turn off some contemporary gamers. But for me, I can live with it in exchange for all the positives of an old-school cRPG. Just finished the tutorial first chapter and am now in the second chapter. More details to follow as I progress. Any thoughts from those of you who've already finished the game?

more gun than any other nation yet no one can hit one big slow orange target pathetic

For what it's worth, Frogwares managed to get the rights to their title back from Nacon, so I hope that Spiders will recover, unlikely may it be. Eurogamer.netFrogwares now sole publisher of The Sinking City followin...Ukrainian studio Frogwares is now the sole publisher of Lovecraft-inspired detective adventure The Sinking City.

Subnautica 2 too. Having fun so far. As @Hurlshort mentioned, there is nothing wildly different about it. Also having fun with HoMaM Olden Era. The nostalgia is of the charts on this one and so far it's not losing steam.

Saw a video clip of Phill Collins, where he sat down at a drumkit, held/hit with the sticks a few times then said "that's enough." He's 75 and looks/stands like 98. Guess he's had health/surgery/nerve issues and retired long ago. Wasn't a huge Genesis/Phil fan, but loved some of their big radio hits of the time - so seeing him like that made me a little sad. Which led me to some of his live performances re: drums. Which led me to other famous drum rift/beat videos, until I reached Wipeout (The Surfari's) - now that's a classic. Some people like rock guitar solos, I like bass and drums. Anyway, dropping this here today. Still one of the best drum breaks/fills around and perfectly used/placed in the song. Song isn't bad either. Thanks for the memories, Phil.

Wake up early, feeling motivated, gonna get some stuff done! a couple hours later "What great weather, sitting lazily out here in my patio chair with my tablet is definitely a better use of my time." I need a better patio lounge chair.

A few titles I was interested in are available on Fanatical for £2.25 - 3.00 each (I probably will repurchase them on GOG if they are good). https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-fantasy-worlds-bundle

Hi, first of all: the early game is pretty hard - noticably harder than what comes afterwards until the late game. It is most likely not your Priest build's fault that you feel that way but a combination of: Picking a class that is not very strong at the beginning of the game. Although the Priest will become your most impactful party member soon amd is considered the most powerful class overall, it starts rather slow. Classes like Fighter, Ranger or Monk start a lot stronger because they have higher base stats and don't rely on per-rest spells (which are scarce so early in the game). They will not become as powerful as a Priest (or Wizard or Druid for example) but the early game is easier with them. Not knowing the mechanics well (yet) - this will solve itself over time The early game being quite hard as I said - nothing you can do about that except: accepting that you don't have to fight every enemy in sight. Sneaking around and avoiding fights (alltogether or come back later after more level-ups) are valid options. The game doesn't give much XP rewards for fighting. Instead, exploring and quests are the main source of XP. using some sneaky tactics like: kiting/pulling/separating enemies, using chokepoints or even lure certain enemies towards other enemies (example: lure wolves to a bandit camp in Valewood, lure some trolls to a bandit camp in Black Meadow or luring the Sly Cyrdel bounty group towards the group of Gramrfel the Wayfarer in Magran's Fork a bit later in the game) Anyway, my understanding is that you want to play a melee Wizard. This is a good choice if you keep a few things in mind: The best weapon options for a melee Wizard are always his summoned weapons. They are vasty more powerful than any other weapon the wiuard can use, especially at level 1. At level 1 you pick Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff. It has a lot more base damage than a normal two handed weapon (20-30), has exceptional quality (which is awesome that early in the game and balances out the bad base accuracy of the Wizard) and drains endurance for you with every successful attack. Later use Citzal's Spirit Lance which has the same high base damage but also AoE capabilites and speed. If you feel that that's not enough summoned weapons and that you burn through them to quickly you can also pick up the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and Forgemaster Gloves during the early(ish) game. That will give you 6 casts of Firebrand per rest, a summoned fire great sword that also has the same high base damage. Try to not be in the front line too much in the early game. The Staff and the Lance are reach weapons so you can stand in the second line and still hit enemies who attack your front line. Infuse with Vital Essence is a great spell to regain lost health. Endurance can be healed during the encounter, but health usually only gets healed during a rest. Infuse with Vital Essence however will give you "temporary" bonus health. The thing is though that it's not really temporary but just stays there as if you had healed. It works even better if you use some items that give you incresed healing, for example the early amulet of Fulvano (or Fulvano's Amulet) which increses all healing you receive by 25% and a survival/camping bonus for increased healing. High Might also increases the effect. Use the Survical skill and put it to 4 points asap. This gives you access to a neat accuracy bonus based on the kind of enemy you face. If you can bring it up to 10 asap (this takes time). This can also be done by skilling it to 8 only and then use an item that grants +2 survival (there are several) and put it on before camping/resting in the wilds. You don't need to wear it all the time. This will give you an even bigger accuracy bonus gainst certain enemies. You need to scout ahead a bit an check out the tyoes of enemies which are awaiting you (if you don't know already) but this bonus reall helps. If you will face kith enemies: there's no survival bonus for them so go for increased healing instead (tier II grants +40% healing). It stacks with the amulet's effects (25%+40% = 65% more healing received ). If you feel too squishy pick Veteran's Recovery. It heals very well if combined with the bonus healing options I mentioned above and will keep you alive without you having to cast Corrosive Siphon or a party member needing to use a healing spell on you. Use Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon to heal even more if necessary. Talents which are great for a melee Wizard: Veteran's Recovery as I said above if you feel too squishy Weapon Focus for whatever your backup weapon is. Summoned weapons can use any weapon focus, they are universal in that regard. So if you want a backup weapon (I suggest Durance's Staff) you pick Weapon Focus Peasant and this will apply to the quarterstaff and the Spirit Lance as well. Aspirant's Mark: this is a -8 delfection and reflex spel that is 1/encounter which is awesome. You can cast this in every fight right at the start - best is after the Priest hit you with an Inspiring Radiance (+10 accuracy). This doesn't have to be done by your wizard and could be used by any of your party members (it's especially good on a Fighter with Disciplied Barrage). Two Handed Style: since the summoned wepaons have high base damage, all damage bonuses you can get have a visible impact Arcane Veil: great to have in a pinch when you get damaged too much. Also great to demotivate enemy rushers to pick you as target in the first place Savage Attack: only later in the game where accuracy isn't an issue anymore (because of Priest buffs, good debuffs on enemies and so on) Apprentice's Sneak Attack: as I said: bonus dmg works well with summoned weapons Good spells to use as a melee Wizard (I mean there are tons but these ones I cast more frequently than others as a melee Wizard): Chillfog: one of the best spells and especially early on. Just don't step into its AoE yourself Concelhaut's Parasitic Staff Deleterious Alarity of Motion: raises your melee dps a ton because your recover twice as fast, especially great with the speed of the Spirit Lance all defensive self-buffs, especially Llengrath's Safeguard which stacks with all deflection-only-buffs such as Arcane Veil Infuse with Vital Essence as I described above Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon Pull of Eora: very good in combination with Spirit Lance in order to pull enemies into tight fomations where your lance AOE can hit them all Citzal's Martial Power once you are done with buffing/summoning stuff Eldritch Aim is great as Spell Mastery imo (at level 9 you can pick a spell you already know which turns from per rest into 1/encounter) Attributes: above average MIG since it boosts not only damage but also healing you do (to yourself). It's also one of the few things that boosts spell damage. But it doesn't need to be maxed or anything. I'd say ~12. mediocre CON is enough (~10) decent DEX and PER (~14) high INT (~18) mediocre RES (~10) shifting a few points here and there doesn't make a difference. Tthe attributes are not crazy impactful like in other games

Greedfall: The Dying World The misadventures on the continent. I have discovered that there are timed quests by failing a side quest. No spoiler tags as it is fairly inconsequential. On the Olima markets, there was a noble berating her servant. The servant lost the noble's necklace. I quickly found it and tried several dialogue options to return it to the servant. The thing was that one of the companions was disapproving, so I decided to swap the party and return later. I got sidetracked and, when I finally got back, the noble and the servant were nowhere to be found and the quest promptly failed. There was nothing in the journal to indicate that it was a timed quest, however, the noble had mentioned going to a ball. So, while it is more immersive than the NPCs waiting for me for a few in-game months, the lack of clear time limits is unpleasant. The stealth system, on the other hand, is funny. There are several notable things. When you stealth-kill a hostile NPC and save/load, sometimes the remaining hostiles spawn at different positions, including the newly freed one. Another one is that you technically can approach from the front (~45 degrees) and, when you stealth-kill the opponent, they turn their back to you. And another one is that even with 1 point in the Stealth skill, the hostiles cannot notice you farther than a few metres away in the ~45-60 view cone in front of them. The companions, conveniently, are completely invisible. There are some continuity bugs, such as a quest NPC spawning after the related quest was completed or companions referring to the non-chosen options. It does not happen too often, but it is noticeable. When the quest resolutions are tracked correctly, it feels good, though. Other than that, I've spent most of the time trying to comb the areas for loot. I do not know whether I will ever need all those crafting ingredients or low level equipment, but if it is there, I must collect it (i.e. the game might be balanced in a way that considers the player looting everything in sight and if I do not, I will be at a disadvantage later). It is a fairly meditative experience. I am also certain that the playtime would have been halved (thirded?) if I did not do it. I think there are difficulty options, but I'd like to stick to the default one. On the other hand, it makes the story progress much slower than it could have been. There is also a new "feature" - you cannot take more than one companion quest simultaneously (the PC auto-refuses) and the companion remains in the active party until it is completed. I probably could just grab 3 people and do their quests in parallel, but I kind of understand the reasoning behind limiting it to 1.

Yeah the foundations to build upon are there, hope they do (only finished a couple contracts so far). Also made me want to replay Dishonored 2 (last time was six, seven years ago IIRC). On a slightly related note, last week also saw the release of Sir Kicksalot. Sir WHO you ask? The Adventures Of Sir Kicksalot - Trailer Puzzling how Dark Messiah's madness has never caught on. But then most devs seem again more obsessed with visual fidelity (everything must look cinema-perfect!) rather than physics and the madness that inevitably ensues. :D

Clearly you have no taste. This is IP usage is solid gold: Also all the Led Zeppelin music.

I removed Greedfall 2 from my Steam wishlist after Spiders was shut down by Nacon.

Well, this is an excellent opportunity to test how long Steam can go offline. I did not expect the developers to actually mean it, but free stuff of the free-stuff-appropriate quality is welcome. I've finished the first 2 areas as of now. The game looks and runs worse than the original, has some odd QoL gaps (the over-the-shoulder camera and the interactive items highlight*), and the companion AI is not helpful, but everything else is fine (the controls are rebindable, the saving is actually good, the story and combat are there). The 30GB of the "highres" bloat can be removed only after downloading, like it was with Steelrising, but at least it is 1 file and can be binned without breaking things. It is disappointing to see what the publisher reduced the studio to. *the last time I had to continuously hold a key to move the camera was with NWN2. Regarding the highlights, it is hard to see anything without it on due to the excessive amount of visual noise and the upscaling (still present even if the Disabled option is chosen). Like, it's the basics of visual design - the player needs to see things, and they still failed it. But the volumetric fog and ray-tracing are in and the performance (on Steam Deck) is poor (<30FPS).

I really liked how turn-based mode was improved in POE1 compared to Deadfire, so I made a mod that replicates all the main changes in Deadfire. Big thanks to the devs who made the TBM patch for POE1 - I wanted to make this mod for years but couldn't have figured out how to properly do it. 🙂 Main features: Characters no longer take one turn per round, instead they take turns as often as initiative allows. Rounds are fully redesigned - 1 round is fixed interval of 6.0 initiative, all status effects adjusted to take it into account. Same balance changes that were made for POE1 (increased lethality, adjusted gun reload speed, etc) - everything is configurable and can be adjusted if you don't like it. 0 influence on RTwP mode or other mods, should be compatible with anything and easily removable in case you don't like it/have any issues. Nexus link: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/854

Finished Mixtape. Pretty good experience. Though it's less a game and more some sort of interactive story, I guess. The visuals are very nice. They kinda copied Life is Strange but made it feel like its own thing, which is great. Makes me feel nostalgic for a time that I never even experienced. It's like those 90s inspired artworks where if you have lived through the 90s, you recognize all the details, but it just wasn't like that if you get what I mean. Anyways. pretty good. Would like to have more. Best part: No super powers. Holy ****. Is that even possible? A teenage drama game without special super human abilities? Yes, yes it is. The characters are remembering things from the past, and because of that, everything is kinda dream-like and open for interpretation. IMO it's well done. Really hope there will be some more in the future.

Music for history study

In the wilds behind my place there seems to be a pack of coyotes that hang around. Every time an emergency vehicle goes past with its sirens on, the pack just starts howling those creepy noises coyotes make. It takes a while for them to settle down again. Anyway, its a beautiful day out there, apart from all the cottonwood seeds floating about. I need to find a good place to get my glasses prescription filled. It's been a while and the old place I used to go to has long since shut down. Any suggestions?

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/a-handful-of-bottlenecks-remain-for-morrowind-remake-mod-skywind-but-its-still-progressing-steadily-towards-release https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/morrowind-in-elden-ring-mod-is-now-mostly-playable-despite-the-fact-its-creators-entire-existence-has-been-consumed-with-interpreting-gibberish-code It is good to see several different fan remakes of Morrowind being worked on. Though, the ER one is much further from completion.

I am somewhere mid-game in Lost Eidolons. It is a turn-based tactical game in a fantasy setting. It is generally playable, the controls are rebindable, the saving is functional, the writing is readable (as in coherent and grammatically correct). There are some interesting systems, such as Aides (a party member who does not participate in an encounter provides passive bonuses to another who does and gains XP) and the ability to explore the camp with the over-shoulder camera. It is also possible to teleport around via the map. The combat itself is rock-paper-scissors, with what beats what being shown in the lower right corner at all times. There are also some terrain effects and magical status effects which can work together. Now, there are a few issues that annoy me. The most noticeable one is that the character models look generic (and the characters of the same class look almost identical) and the general palette is the grey-brown of the 00's shooters. On the lower resolutions, it is quite hard to see the UI icons, while most portraits, as mentioned, are too similar to tell apart. There is an incredible amount of small talk and fetch quests with little to no player's input. Even with the in-camp teleportation and skipping, it still takes a lot of time. The character development system is functional - gain enough XP in the relevant skills and the class will unlock, the problem is that the high-tier classes and skills are locked behind the main story, so I've had the party maxed out for the last 5 or so chapters (I am at 14 of 27). As a character cannot carry an arsenal or switch between armour suits in combat, I do not understand why I would want my Barbarian-to-become to learn throwing fireballs. The story itself is generally decent (a mercenary company accidentally offs a local lord and decides to join the rebels to avoid persecution by the Empire) and the MC is a generic Chaotic Good MC with a few points in CHA. Despite the opening mission spoiling the main antagonist, it is interesting to see how it gets to that point. In terms of performance, I have not noticed FPS drops or crashes, but the game occasionally runs hot. I've had one hardlock when I tried to skip an enemy turn. Probably, I would have had a better experience if I did not play right after Symphony of War (better visual style, more complexity and variety), but I also would not have played now if I had not played SoW.

I also played a smuggler at release and did get to 50, but it was absolutely wild how they were absolutely set on making a melee spec for the smuggler, and so achieved that by forcing them to use a gun that only works at melee range. Yeah... To be fair, I have no idea how much of the concept of a melee gun was made up by the SWTOR team and how much is actual Star Wars lore. For what it's worth, I only ever got two classes to 50 because it took so incredibly long back then. One was the smuggler, solo, and the other was a consular in a co-op run. I think I got an inquisitor to around 30-40 some time later but ran out of momentum (and double XP weekends).

Instead of correcting this little typo my mind immediately imagined a lance with an AoE effect that arranges the enemies in a specific order... 🥴

Both. You can start with Deadfire, it's not mandatory to play Pillars of Eternity first. But it is better to start with the first one - because Deadfire is a continuation of your main character's story that begins in Pillars of Eternity.

I looked it up again, and I don't see anything that's changed very much. https://partner.steamgames.com/doc/features/drm Steam client has a wrapper dev's can use. They do not claim it is anti-piracy, and recognize it's more of a simple anti-freely-share with dozens of your friends, that can be easily circumvented. Steam recommends using other/3rd party drm on top of their wrapper, or "enhancing" legit copies with steam features that only work with legit Steam-purchased, to make having a legit copy more desirable, like achievements, trading cards, Steam's sever online-MP, etc. I'm pretty sure everything else is 3rd party, eg the current AA/AAA dev-popular Denuvo. The main ez-short test, last I knew, is to rename steam folder and the steam.exe and try to run games via the game exe to see if it'll run if game thinks Steam isn't there. There are many user-sourced sites/lists re: steam-drm free titles, whether they were initially or maybe removed later - but most of these fall into the moderate to very old, certain indies/devs, or somewhat obscure titles category.

Still one of the all time great female vocalists

CD - 150ish hours now. I probably have another 200 hours + to go! At least according to the posts from people who play for 8+ hrs a day claiming 350-450 hrs to do "everything"/near 100% it (I have zero intention of 100%). I only play an average of 2.5-3 hrs per day so I still have a few months of content. Perhaps. eg, it's been "worth the money" for me, at least. I still wouldn't "recommend" the game outright to anyone tho, because of the "it takes this many hours to get-good" or click, if it ever clicks with one at all, factor. Maybe that's ok for online-only/MMO's, but eh. It really is a sandbox more than anything else. Anyway, probably going to stop yapping about it now. Finally got a little more ahead in the MQ - which technically does get a tad (tad) more comprehensible as time goes on, but it's still not good or cohesive/immersive, even from my "don't care about story" perspective. There is apparently book-lore in the game you can get/read post-game that explains tons of story stuff, like why Kliff is so silent/blank, why the heck the sky-Abyss exists, who these beings are that keep yanking Kliff around, etc. Sounds like the intended background is more interesting than what was put/shown in gameplay. But between this sandbox and maybe one day Death Stranding 2, I may not need another "big"-new game until I build a new rig in 2-3 years. :P

I thought these memes and roasts were funny, but probably too politically biased to be considered just humour

War plans in D4 LoH seem incomplete. I need JIRA and a end of list retrospective with Tyrael.

New Lithium-Plasma Engine Passes Key Mars Propulsion Test

Heroes of Might & Magic: Olden Era. Seems like a very solid, if budget HoM&M installment. I enjoyed the demo they released a while back, and this already feels stronger. Only spent a bit time in a custom match, and I am a very casual HoM&M player - very little multiplayer experience. Still, I really like it so far, especially for £25. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

a few partial/incomplete louise brooks film were found, restored, and released on blu-ray recently it's like they know i exist

They should give Obsidian to make an RPG in the Diablo setting. I am eager to fish in Diablo

Right now, the Lizard boss fight feels like hitting a punching bag until it dies. Unlike the Broodmother, which had distinct phases that changed as her health dropped, the Lizard has no stage transitions. This makes the fight less engaging and removes the sense of evolving mechanics. Adding combat phases would make the encounter more dynamic and rewarding. For example, the Lizard could start with fast bite attacks, then switch to charging moves, and finally use tail strikes as its health decreases. This would restore the challenge and progression that makes boss fights memorable, instead of just being a damage sponge.

Lord of Hatred. Blizzard's update to the games turned it into a zen exercise simulator. Pretty good one though. Click this button here to create a new character. Wait five minutes. Pick class. Wait five minutes. Pick from presets or customize your own character, but the assets aren't loaded in. Wait five minutes. Click play game, wait five minutes, pick difficulty (huh?) then "Reconnecting...", wait five minutes... "Lobby Server Not Available"

My favorite party composition is: Edér Aloth Durance Kana Rua Hiravias Kana Rua is very useful on some maps in the early game because he has access to the "White Worms" invocation. As long as you don't reload a map (leaving/coming back or reloading as save) all corpses will stay on the map. Every corpse works with White Worms over and over again (they don't get consumed). So on a map like Raedric's Castly you can pile up corpse over corpse in some doorways and use Kanas White Worms invocation for massive AoE damage. Also in longer encounters the summoed Phantom is extremely good in the early game. It can win fights for you (as long as Kana doesn't go down). From level 9 on I give him "The Dragon Thrashed" as only phrase for his chant and give him a single one handed weapon (because the +12 accuracy bonus translates to offensive chants for some overlooked reason) which decimates all mobs in range automatically. It's very powerful. Hiravias as a caster is very good in general but also his Spiritshift ability is very potent. I give him Wildstrike + Greater Wildstrike + Weapon FOcus Peasant + Two Weapon Style and Outlander's Frenzy. Very important to give him a Wildstrike Belt asap (can be bought for very cheap in Ondra's Gift). He then shreds through single enemies who want to mess with him in melee like no other class (not even Rogues). I give him the soulbound scepter because then he can regain his 1 spiritshift use per encounter, making it possible for him to spiritshift twice. Durance as a Priest is kind of a must if you don't want to gimp the party. Priests' buffs are just so strong. Pick Inspiring Radiance asap. It gives you +10 accuracy for the party in every encounter and stacks with everything. Makes the early game a lot easier. Aloth for CC is also my preffered way of playing him. Try Blast + Penetrating Blast + Weapon Focus + Dangerous Implements + Marksman and then summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights. It's a very good (small) AoE dmg combo and only needs one spell cast (for figts where you not necessarly need a lot of CC). Later something like the Rod of Pale Shades is very cool like that, too because Blast works with weapon procs (in this case Stunning + Disorienting) Although not in my favorite party setup, Pallegina can be very useful if you give her a Marking Weapon (there are several, my preference for her is a weapon set set of Spectacular Spetum pollaxe asap + Blade of the Endless Paths estoc later, pollaxe I keep as backup against pierce immue enemies) - and in additon pick Coordinated Attacks. This means she can give the nearest ally who's atacking the same target as her +10 stackable accuracy. This makes it a lot easier to overcome single tough foes (bosses and the like). And it's all passive so it doesn't cost resources or action time. And on top she can do all the other Paladin stuff of course.

Finished BG3 and started on Civ 5. Still my favorite Civ game. Need a break from cRPGs after hundreds of hours slogging through BG3. 😛

Sounds like those countries just need to instituted a UBI and their problems will vanish overnight. 🤔

PS: What you can also do is to play a Fighter with high INT and use Lore for scrolls (potentially very powerful) and so-called spellbinding gear. Those are items that contain per-rest spells of Wizards, Druids and Priests (and sometimes even Ciphers) and can be used by anybody. A Fighter is a good candidate because the spells work especially well with the high accuracy the Fighter class has. For examle there's Bots that contain Jolting Touch 3/rest, a sabre that contains Fireball 3/rest, an Amulet and an armor which both contain Sunburst 3/rest each (so in total 6 casts of Sunburst per rest), an Estoc that has Blizzard 3/rest and so on. You can then add some talents such as Aspirant's Mark, Prestidigitator's Missiles, Enigma's Charm... (all 1/encounter). That way you can build a very accurate Fighter who's good with weapon (because... Fighter) and has some nice spells from items, talents and scrolls, too.

Enshrouded - huge patch. Combat changes. Gear changes, mechanic changes. Forced skill tree reset. Feels like 1/4 of the long time player base hates it/quit the game. Not sure it's quite that bad, but nothing I care about so I may not update it. It at least has the excuse of Early Access re: mega changes. Crimson Desert - huuuuge patch. Initially broke stuff. Hotfix. Multi-storage changes. Skill changes. Nerfs. 3-tier difficulty mode added. Control changes (still can't rebind WASD or some others). Fluff added (more cats, more outfits etc). Pet's ability to loot for you still seems half-broken. Still the worst implementation (graphically) of DLSS (major noise, ghosting in some scenarios, blur for some people) I've seen in years and all they do is focus on ray reconstruction improvement (noise goes away if you turn that on, pfft). I'm going back to previous version and probably staying there until I "finish" the game. semi-rant I'm all for QoL (bigger stash? sure) and options (difficulty options? added end-game activtives? sure), bug, stability, and sure, extra cats, why not, but I'm so fed up with feeling like every 2-3 months (or weeks) a game is no longer the same game I paid for. And half of it, in my mind, is because the "masses" whine and demand that every game be like/have the same features of a previous favorite game, and the dev's constantly capitulate. So in the end it's all the same slop. Frustrating as I found these two games in a love/hate kind of way, at the same time, at least they felt a bit different. Every patch slowly removes that individuality. It's tiresome. Even Teddy's Heaven is going that way - pretty soon it'll just be another tired same-y "shop" game. Yes, I know, sometimes constant patching works in favor. I'm just saying. end-rant

Nope, it does not. Wikdstrike Burn doesn't add a fire/burn tag to your melee attacks. If you were a Druid/Paladin and used Flames of Devotion + Wildstrike Burn it would be beneficial to use the Ring of Focused Flames bc. Flames of Devotion is tagged as fire attack which would profit from the Ring and Scion of Flame. As a Boar Druid/Stalker you can pick Wildstrike Shock and Heart of the Storm (for the lash PEN and also the several shocking storm spells). As a Stalker I would assume that Stalker's Patience is a must-have weapon? ;) Takedown Combo + Sunlance is very good against single enemies with a lot of health btw. Shifter Boar form has an extremely long woundig DoT (same as the whole Spiritshift duration) and thus deals very high woundig damage. It also unlocks Predator's Sense. It stacks with Taste of the Hunt for a quite impressive multi-DoT attack. So I wouldn't sleep on Taste of the Hunt. When not shifted: it also stacks with Stalker's Patience's DoT (which unlike the Boar woundig doesn't stack with itself though). If you tend to be away from allies a bit then Nature's Terror is a good spell as well. I don't see any glaring action economy issues.

Sorry for necroposting, but I stumbled upon this thread while searching for such mod. I found nothing, so I decided to make it myself. I published it on Nexus, here: https://www.nexusmods.com/pillarsofeternity2/mods/852 I hope it will help someone who is tired of making one extra click, like me. 😂

Hello again. If you want to play with the official companions then the Druid (Hiravias) will be a Cat build. But that's okay since it's also a great spiritshift form. If you want to use Spiritshift more than once per encounter,out should give him the soulbound scepter Gyrd Háewanes Sténes because it allows the Druid to regain one use of Spiritshift per encounter. Wildstrike Shock, Greater Wildstrike Shock, Weapon Focus Peasant, Two Weapon Style, Outlander's Frenzy (activate shortly before shifting), Heart of the Storm, Savage Attack, Apprentice's Sneak Attack. Will rip through everything while shifted... Get the Wildstrike Belt asap, it's extremely good. A main character like the Monksterlasher would profit from a Chanter build for Kana Rua that eventually uses Aefyllath Ues Mith Fyr as main phrase in a chant (and a short one like the +1 Movement/+10 reflex phrase from level 1 that Kana Rua automatically has). The +25% burning lash from it stacks with the rest of the Monksterlasher's lashes and also gets boosted by Scion of Flame. In the early game you should only run short phrases in order to be able to summon the Phantom (pick that invocation up despite Kana already having skeletons - the phantom is way better and can save whole fights that somehow went downhill in the early game - it's that strong). Also pick up Ancient Memory and Beloved Spirits asap. Since a support Chanter like that doesn't need attack speed you can give him a shield (a small one will do so your accuracy won't suffer) and thick armor and use him as offtank. If you don't have a Paladin then giving him Gallant's Focus is a good idea to boost your whole party's accuracy on the fly. The Wizard Aloth is good as a Blaster Wizard because he's a Wood Elf (and gets distant advante as racial ability). Use implements and pick up Blast + Penetrating Blast and fitting talents (fitting Weapon Focus, Marksman, Dangerous Implements) and summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights in tougher fights (it's an AoE weapon and all AoE hits will proc AoE Blasts, leading to absurd dmg if enemies stand near to each other). Late in the game try to pick up Llengrath's Blunt Wisdom (unique weapon summon spell) because it's extremely good. For filler fights it's nice to get a wand/scepter/rod that does something on hit/crit. Because those effects also proc off the Blast AoE. Something like Golden Gaze, Curoc's Brand and the Rod of Pale Shades (my favorite) are nice. In tougher fights it's best to summon Kalakoth's Minor Blights and later Llengrath's Blunt Wisdom. For the Priest (Durance) I almost always give him Inspiring Radiance first, then Inspired Flame (a talent that gives him +10 accuracy with arquebus and sword) because you will get a very early arquebus from Kana Rua and a well aimed arquebus **** here and there can make some difference in the early game. Then I pick Interdiction and Painful Interdiction because it's awesome to have some castings that you can use in very encounter. Then Weapons Focus Soldier (arquebus +6 accuracy) and then Marksman and Gunner. The main focus is still to support and buff the party, but sometimes you want to spare spells and then it's cool to be able to shoot around with some proper impact. For melee you can use Forgemaster Gloves or the Belt of the Royal Deadfire Cannoneer and then summon Firebrand if melee enemies bother you. It does lots of damage per hit and it works with Inspired Flame (+10 accuracy) and Weapon Focus Soldier (+6 accuracy) so you will be pretty good with it. And it's a flaming great sword which fits a priest of Magran very well. You don't need additional talents for it. For Eder I like dual sabres (Sabre of the Seas asap, it's awesome) and Plate Armor, Knockdown, Bonus Knockdown, Weapon Focus Ruffian, Two Weapon Style, Disciplined Barrage, Armored Grace and later Charge. It much more fun than building him into a sword & board tank and the Knockdowns are very impactful in the early to mid game (and still good later on but then there will be a lot more options for disabling enemies so it doesn't stand out anymore). I usually end up giving him Sanguine Plate (because Frenzy + Armored Grace + dual wielding + two weapon style makes him pretty damn fast while being sturdy). I add a Blunting Belt and Shod-in-Faith boots for plenty of DR and healing. I don't fancy Ciphers much so I don't have any glaring recommendations. Usually a war bow Cipher is a very solid approach though. Make sure to give the following (relatively) early items to your party (whom they fit best) because they have a big impact early in the game: Shod in Faith Boots: proc 2/encounter if you get crit and grant great passive healing and that spares you a lot of healing spells. Give it to a front liner who gets attacked a lot. Rotfinger Gloves: the Touch of Rot spell on them is vastly(!) better than the spell from the Druid that has the same name. It is foe only and has a huge(!) AoE size. Can turn fights easily. Doesn't work against poison/disease immune enemies like vessels and spirits. I like to give it to Kana Rua because he has decent Might and Intellect which both boost the spell effect. Also chanters don't have much to do until their invocations are ready so your casting of Tough of Rot won't interfere with other actions much. Azureith's Stiletto: I give it to Edér early on together with the Sabre ofcthe seas. He has enormous accuracy with Disciplined Barrage and the help of Durance's Inspiring Radiance. The Jolting Touch this stiletto procs on crit does very high damage for the early game and makes many fights much easier because usually enemies hit by it die (if not right away then soon) Wildstrike Belt: it lifts the Druid's spiritshift damage a lot because it adds 10 points to both(!) Wildstrike lashes: Wildstrike goes up from 30% to 40% and Greater Wildstrike goes up from 15% to 25%. Combine with Heart of the Storm and they go up even further to 48% and 30% which is great. One talent I find extremely useful in the early game (and which stays useful later) is Aspirant's Mark. It gives you a weaker for of Nature's Mark, but in every encounter. In combination with Inspiring Radiance from the Priest you can shift the ratio of your accuracy vs. enemies' defenses a lot in every encounter. Cast Radiance first and then Aspirant's Mark and you party's accuracy is raised by 10 while the enemies deflection and reflex is lowered by 8. That's an 18 point swing in a matter of seconds. 18 points is the accuracy-equivalent of 6 character levels(!) and you can do it in every fight. Again: I like to give it to the Chanter most of times because chanters don't have mich to do otherwise until their phrase points accumulate for an invocation. Cheers!

Hello, I like classic cRPGs more than modern first person or third person action shooters. You should make a new game. No matter whether it's PoE 3 or a very new title. Do not think you have to make another Baldur's Gate 3. Think smaller. Not a 100 million dollar budget game!! What I mean is a beautiful hand-crafted classic RPG in an atmospheric world with a good story and interesting exploration. You could make it even smaller than a PoE game. Maybe the scope of Tyranny. Just make a fantastic dark medieval-fantasy world in a small game. I would love it.

Knowing melkathi's cat stories, that's probably accurate. :p

^I dont know about that. What with Germany, Japan and (presumably) Italy having recently unshackled their defense budgets, we have concrete evidence of the formation of Axis² and them steamrolling to a fascist nirvana with the rest of Europe at their heels. May the Flying Spaghetti Monster forever damn them to a bottomless pit of marinara.

When I saw the cat in the first photo, I thought he was the one who had caused all the trouble😅

Being asked by a 22 year old "What do you mean by 'username'" for an SFTP server was something else. Then again, I'm sure my company hires morons who work for cheap - explains why I'm here.

We need more creature hostility towards each other. Like ladybugs hunting and attacking an aphid everytime they see it to add more realism. It would be so cool to see a dragonfly(potential new insect) to just absolutely demolish mosquitos. But i feel like spamming it too much just means free stuff for the newbies so i would understand if you guys dont add this BUT it would be nice addition if only in certain parts of the map this happens.

So I have many hundreds of hours from grounded 1 to 2 and am wondering why the two most useful things from grounded 1 are not in grounded 2 yet? I am referring to the wheel mutation build swapping and the handy gnat for building. Anyone have any info as to why the mutation swap became so terrible now when it was super useful before?

Hey Devs. I have been seeing this among other players as well. The original night base music is so iconic to the whole game that i really believe you should bring it back for grounded 2. The night base music you have in 2 is also very good I thought you could just bring in the original as well and then perhaps in the options menu you can choose to have the nostalgic song or the new song or alternate between the two of them. Just some thoughts. The original music is just so super iconic.